Still in progress, but I have a bit of down time, so I might as well get started. Many thanks to @Maribel and others who posted about good choices in these cities.
First night, only a few hours after flying in from Lisbon, La Lopez in the Mercado Antón Martín (very close to the Metro stop of the same name), maybe 100m from our AirBnb. This is in the centre of the lower level of the market, and in the evening, only the restaurants and prepared food stalls are open.
The hostess here, Maia, would kick any rating up a notch or two with her personable approach, except that there is no need to elevate its rating. We ordered four dishes but also got small servings of the ensaladilla russa as an amuse-bouche.
I don’t think of potato salad as fine dining, but this (with tuna) might have changed my mind. A good start, immediately overtaken by the next dish, the tomate confitado en miso. Soy is also involved, and some sweetener, I think. This was the highlight of the meal for both of us, I think. I am under orders to learn how to make this at home.
Next was the arenque del Báltico marinado con aguacate y mango. I have mostly had herring at Scandinavian lunch buffets or dockside stalls. I hadn’t planned on ordering this, but we decided to follow Raia’s recommendation, and that was the right choice. It was still a little sweet for me, but the texture was really good, so it harmonized well with the avocado and mango.
Next up was callos. Maia was surprised that we ordered this; I guess we don’t look very adventurous. I have long been a fan of tripe, my partner less so. This was excellent, with enough other meats to provide some variety.
You can’t quite see it in the photo, but they split the portion for us, and served it in large plates shaped like a flying saucer (so really thick at the centre) with a smaller depression in the top to hold the food. We were impressed by the serving dishes, and inquired about them, to be told that they are really expensive (80€ wholesale rate) and they have only six of them. Furthermore, they are insured in case of breakage. I’m glad I learned this only after scraping every last drop from mine.
Our final dish of the night was colmenillas guisadas en salsa de foie, fresh morels with a rich creamy sauce (also a fried egg, because why not). This was perhaps the most conventional dish of the night, but still quite good, and I know one doesn’t want to overcomplicate morels.
The bread was good (in fact, so far, the bread has been good in all the restaurants we’ve eaten at), as were my two glasses of wine, one a Xarel.lo blend, the other a Méncia from Bierzo. We were too full to try the tableside tiramisù. A great first meal in Madrid, with more to follow!
